U.S. to withdraw from Jewish-history-denying Islamic-supremacist-promoting UNESCO

13 October 2017, 12:22 | Terri Saunders

Ambassador Phạm Sanh Châu the Vietnamese candidate for the position of UNESCO Director-General. — VNA VNS

The United States and Israel announced on Thursday they were quitting the U.N.'s cultural agency UNESCO, after Washington accused it of anti-Israeli bias.

Pursuant to Article II (6) of the UNESCO Constitution, U.S. withdrawal will take effect on December 31, 2018.

The podcast that makes sense of the most delirious stretch of the 2016 campaign. In addition to designating World Heritage sites, the organization's 1970 Convention was the first global instrument dedicated to the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property.

Phạm Sanh Châu, Vietnamese candidate for the director-general position of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), made a decision to withdraw his name prior to the third round of voting on Wednesday.

"Universality is critical to UNESCO's mission to strengthen worldwide peace and security in the face of hatred and violence, to defend human rights and dignity", she added, noting that UNESCO would continue to build a more just, peaceful, equitable 21st century.

Washington has also protested against UNESCO's decision to grant full membership to Palestine, deciding to suspend regular payments to the organization in 2011.

The lack of staffing and funding plans for Unesco by the USA have been accompanied by repeated denunciations of Unesco by senior U.S. officials, including U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

The decision follows a string of UNESCO decisions that have drawn criticism from the U.S. and Israel.

Lufthansa has bought a large chunk of Air Berlin
Spohr said that adding 81 planes to the Lufthansa fleet was the maximum that competition watchdogs would accept. A Lufthansa spokesman declined to provide further details because the agreement had not yet been signed.

Update on Neville's Future in WWE
Needless to say, WWE would be insane to let the man who held the cruiserweight division together for most of this year walk away. Neville's last appearance on television was during the segment where Kalisto joined the cruiserweight division on Raw last week.

In a statement released via her official Twitter handle, Bokova called the withdrawal "a loss to UNESCO".

The agency is in the process of choosing a new leader, with Qatari and French former ministers Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari and Audrey Azoulay neck-and-neck in the contest to replace Ms Bokova.

UNESCO's executive board plans to select her successor Friday in a secret ballot.

She argued that Unesco is "so relevant to the political agenda of the American government it's incredible", citing its work on trying to prevent violent extremism through educational and cultural programs in the developing world. "Partnership between UNESCO and the United States was so deep and strong because it was based on shared values", she said.

Ms Bokova defended Unesco's reputation, noting its efforts to support Holocaust education and train teachers to fight anti-Semitism. It is also a member of the United Nations Development Group.

"Today is a new day at the U.N., where there is price to pay for discrimination against Israel", Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said.

In July, the agency again delighted Palestinians when its members declared the Old City of Hebron in the occupied West Bank an endangered World Heritage site - described as "another delusional decision" by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trending Now

Parents win murder appeal in case that divided India
The jail officials said that Rajesh Talwar and his wife Nupur Talwar had not eaten anything since morning and prayed for hours. The agency has said it will take a call on appealing the high court's decision after it goes through the judgement.

Walt Disney Animation Studios' Gigantic gets the axe
With 'Gigantic , ' we've come to that point, and although it's a hard decision, we are ending active development for now. Instead of " Gigantic ", the studio is focusing on another project which is now being tabled for Thanksgiving 2020.

Equifax may have been breached again
The hack has led to multiple federal and state investigations and the departure of the company's 12-year chief executive. The cyberattack occurred through a vulnerability in an open-source application framework it uses called Apache Struts.

Analysts See $1.57 EPS for Valero Energy Corporation (VLO)
The active investment managers in our partner's database now hold: 345.06 million shares, up from 340.91 million shares in 2017Q1. Gotham Asset Management LLC's holdings in Valero Energy Corporation were worth $5,751,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Non-bailable arrest warrant issued against Imran Khan
According to PTI Spokesperson Naeemul Haq, the party is set to challenge the warrants in the Islamabad High Court ( IHC ). It had then issued a formal show-cause notice to the PTI chairman, asking him to submit a reply by August 23.

Irish children eighth most overweight in Europe; 58th in world
In 1975, less than 1% of young people aged five to 19 were obese, equivalent to around five million girls and six million boys. The United States tied with other nations such as Kuwait and Qatar with an obesity rate of 20 percent for that same age group.

Spain set to impose direct rule on Catalonia
He accused Mr Puigdemont of having created "deliberate confusion" and said he wanted to restore "certainty". He said the Catalan government's response would be crucial in deciding "events over the coming days".